Anuradhapura

 Anuradhapura, city, north-central Sri Lanka. It is situated along the Aruvi Aru River. The old section of Anuradhapura, now preserved as an archaeological park and designated a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1982, is the best known of Sri Lanka’s ancient ruined cities. In the immediate vicinity are huge bell-shaped dagobas (Buddhist commemorative shrines, or stupas) built of small sun-dried bricks as well as temples, sculptures, palaces, and ancient drinking-water reservoirs. The city also contains an ancient pipal tree that is believed to have originally been a branch of the Bo tree at Bodh Gaya (Bihar, India), under which Gauthama Buddha attained Enlightenment. The Bo tree branch was planted at Anuradhapura about 245 BCE, and it may be the oldest tree in existence for which there is any historical record.